Malevolent
by LittleApril
Summary: Emily Andrews never intended on getting caught up in a war between worlds with Gods, deceit and trickery. But, then again, life in Puente Antiguo had never been easy. Loki/OC MCU


**Malevolent by LittleApril**

If there was one thing Emily Andrews hated most about working at Puente Antiguo Medical Center, it was the dreaded night shift. Drugged on the cheap caffeine of the ancient vending machines, the twenty-eight-year-old fought hard to stay awake as she wandered down the corridors of the hospital's West Wing. The paediatrician flashed brief smiles as she passed her colleagues, stifling yawns behind her hands. Glancing at the aged wristwatch she wore, Emily sighed. Three-forty-seven in the morning. Five hours and twenty three minutes to go.

Another yawn.

"Dr. Andrews?"

The blonde turned, blinking away the sleep that threatened to sew her eyes shut. "Hey, Richards," she greeted, shooting the med student a lazy grin. "Everything OK?"

"Everything but the lack of sleep," joked Jake Richards, falling into stride with the chief doctor. "Listen, Carl's been asking for you." At Emily's curious glance, he elaborated. "Can't get to sleep."

Emily nodded, her fingertips rubbing at her brow. "He knows something's wrong with his treatment. His parents were crying in the lobby this afternoon."

"Kid's got it tough," agreed Richards, handing her his clipboard. "What is he? Eight? Nine?"

Still staring down at the clipboard, Emily didn't bother to raise her head. "He'll be eight next Wednesday. We were thinking about making a thing of it considering it'll probably be…" Her voice trailed off as she scribbled her signature at the bottom of the papers, handing it back to Richards with a grim smile.

Richards hung his head. "His last," he finished, nodding. "I know."

"Exactly," breathed Emily, trying to collect her thoughts. She could feel a headache brewing in the back of her mind. "Issy has promised to bake us a cake. I'll collect it from the diner before I head over on Wednesday morning-"

"Wednesday? Isn't that your one day off this week?"

With a sigh, Emily shook her head. "Was," she amended. "It _was_ my one day off. But you know the drill, Jake. We take this job home with us. It never stops. But if we get to put a smile on that kid's face, and he gets to have just one more birthday, that makes it all worth it." Reaching up to undo her high ponytail, the doctor snapped the hair-tie to her wrist and ran her fingers through the mess of golden strands. "What time are you heading home?"

"Five more minutes till I can clock out."

"OK. Can you swing by Room E41 on your way out? I'm pretty sure Crystal will be asleep, but if you could just drop the file off there-"

"Sure thing, boss."

Emily paused in the corridor as she watched Jake walk away, hearing his whistle echo down the hallway. Rubbing at her tired eyes, she turned right at the fork in the corridors, intent on heading back to the reception to grab one last cup of coffee to see her through to the end of her shift. As she neared the front desk, she could hear raised voices. Curious, she increased her speed before stopping by the reception's entrance.

"Jane?" called Emily, stalking forward to the familiar brunette. _What was Jane doing at the hospital at this time? _"What are you doing here? Is everything OK?" As she neared the astrophysicist, the doctor held out her hands, grabbing Jane's arms to look for abrasions and contusions. "Has something happened?"

"Em," breathed Jane, forced laughter escaping her lips. The brunette turned from the receptionist to greet her oldest friend. "Everything's fine. Promise." A pause. "I just-"

_"She hit a guy with her car."_

Emily blinked, her attention turning to the second, much shorter brunette. Her eyes flickered back to Jane._ "What?"_

"Grazed him," amended Jane, biting her lip. "I grazed him. We were out researching and he just appeared out of _nowhere._"

"And is this guy OK?" questioned Emily, unbelieving of the accident. Jane had always been a careful driver. She'd always been vigilant. "What happened?"

"We were out researching," explained Jane, gesticulating with her hands the enormity of the situation, "when a vortex appeared out of nowhere. It was _insane,_ Emily. Visibility was low and, like I said, this guy appeared out of nowhere. He walked in front of the car and then-"

_"Bam!"_ interjected the second brunette. At Emily's startled look, she shrugged her shoulders.

Jane hurriedly interrupted. "He got up, though," she said, starting to make light of the situation.

_"And then I tasered him."_

Emily's jaw slackened. "What?"

"The guy looked scary!"

"Darcy," hissed Jane, nudging her elbow into the brunette's side. "Em, this my intern, Darcy. Darcy, this is Emily."

"You work here?" questioned Darcy, inclining her head to gesture to the hospital.

Emily rose her brows as she gestured to her scrubs. "Good guess," she said, sarcasm evident in her tone. She wiped her hand over her brow and turned back to Jane. "Are you feeling OK, though? You look pretty shaken up."

Jane slumped her shoulders. "I just wanna know if he's gonna be OK," she admitted, guilt creeping onto her face. "I did hit him pretty hard."

"OK," murmured Emily as her pager began to bleep. Four letters flashed across the screen. _Carl. _"I have to go. I'm needed back at the ward. I finish in a few hours. I'll check on your mystery guy before I leave, OK? And I'll text you."

"Really?" Jane's smile was unsure and writhing with guilt.

"Really," echoed Emily. Her pager bleeped once more, and she cancelled it with a quick press of a button. "Go home and get some sleep. You look like you need it." A short smile as she turned to head back to her unit. "Call me in the afternoon, OK? You need to catch me up on all of… this," she gestured to Darcy and the strange man beside them, before jogging down the corridor back to her children.


End file.
